Senior Airman Mark Andrew Forester was born on May 15, 1981, in Haleyville, Alabama, and graduated from Haleyville High School in 1999. He grew up in a close family with his parents, Ray and Pat Forester, three brothers and a sister. From an early age he was determined to serve. A childhood friend remembered, “For as long as I can remember, he was bound and determined that he’d be a soldier fighting for our country.”
From 2000 to 2002 Mark served as a volunteer missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Oakland, California. He was there on September 11, 2001. At 20 years old he was outraged by the attacks and felt then that his calling was to fight terrorism. He first finished his education, earning a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Alabama in 2006. He was a devoted Crimson Tide fan for the rest of his life; his older brother Thad was his best friend and his college roommate.
Despite advice to seek a commission, Mark enlisted in the Air Force in June 2007. He wanted to start at the bottom, he wanted the toughest job the military could offer and he believed an enlisted Airman would have the best chance to deploy. He was an honor graduate of basic training and went on to the Combat Control Orientation and Operator Courses, Army Airborne School, Air Force Survival School, Combat Control School, where he was a distinguished graduate in 2008, Special Tactics Advanced Skills Training, Military Free Fall Parachutist School and Air Force Combat Diver School. He was assigned to the 21st Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina.
In May 2010 Mark deployed to Forward Operating Base Cobra in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, attached to an Army Special Forces team. Pilots knew him only by his call sign, JAG 28. On August 6, 2010, he earned the Bronze Star Medal with Valor for his actions in ground combat. On September 29, 2010, his team was moving through the village of Jangalak during an assault on an insurgent safe haven when it came under intense machine-gun and sniper fire. Mark identified enemy positions and directed close air support. When his teammate, Army Sergeant First Class Calvin Harrison, was struck by a sniper, Mark exposed himself to enemy fire and organized a team to recover him. As he moved forward to reach his fallen comrade, he was shot and killed. He was 29. The mission eliminated 12 insurgents and uncovered a significant weapons cache. When he fell, Mark was carrying an American flag wrapped around the chest plate inside his body armor.
On June 15, 2012, at Hurlburt Field, Florida, the commander of Air Force Special Operations Command presented the Silver Star to Ray and Pat Forester on their son’s behalf. Hundreds of Special Tactics Airmen traveled from across the country to attend. Mark was also posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. His call sign, JAG 28, was retired after his death. Many of the teammates who spoke at his funeral and memorial services closed their remarks with “Roll Tide.”
Mark’s friends describe a man of unwavering character. “He always said he was my moral compass,” a fellow combat controller said. “I’m a better person for knowing him.” Students at the Special Tactics Training Squadron walk past his picture every morning, and they train beneath a portrait of him that hangs in their gym. His family remembers a respectful son, a loving brother and a true friend who discovered his purpose in life and died doing what he was sent here to do.
In a final act of gallantry and valor, Forester led his team back into enemy fire to rescue a fallen comrade when he was shot and killed.
Memorial Valor Foundation
Sources
- Air Force: Combat controller posthumously awarded Silver Star (June 15, 2012)
- Air Force Special Tactics: Honor the Fallen, SrA Mark Forester
- Senior Airman Mark Forester (family memorial site): About Mark
- Family-provided records on file with MVF: Mark Forester bio
